OXFORD – The Oxford County Fair kicked off Wednesday with demonstrations and events aiming to educate the public about agriculture.

Heidi Linscott of the Oxford County Soil and Water Conservation District said the district has sponsored Education Day since it started 17 or 18 years ago. She said the event drew children from as far away as New Hampshire.

“We’re just basically trying to teach children about natural resources and the farming community,” Linscott said.

Linscott said the day’s events included multiple hands-on learning experiences. Demonstrations included weaving, knitting, making apple pies, oxen yoking, harnessing horses and mineral education.

At the Pulling Pavilion, Heidi Thuotte spoke to a large audience of children and chaperones about several teams of oxen that were led into the barn. Trainers demonstrated how guiding younger oxen requires touching the animals with a stick, while older oxen can follow voice commands.

“In a few minutes, you’re going to be able to do this,” Thuotte said into a microphone, “so pay attention!”

Soon, the children in the stands had transplanted themselves to the barn entrance awaiting a chance to guide a team.

“It’s a riot to see these kids come in, because they’re so thrilled,” Thuotte said.

Richard “Mac” McAllister, or “Chuck Wagon Mac,” sat next to a replica of an 1866 chuck wagon he had constructed. McAllister, who lives in Davie, Fla., said he has been touring the Northeast with the wagon for five months.

“I spent my whole life in show business,” McAllister said.

Dressed in cowboy clothes, he told those who stopped how the chuck wagon was used to carry supplies for cowboys on cattle drives. He said the cook would also serve as doctor, dentist, barber and veterinarian.

“The cook was pretty grouchy,” he said. “I don’t know when the heck he got any sleep.”

Elsewhere, Ed Somers demonstrated timber building with a garden shed he is hoping to complete before the end of the fair. He showed people how to use the different tools that were lying on the shed’s base.

Not far away, Peter Marcinuk had kids line up to feed apples into a cider press and turn a wheel to grind them into cider.

A large 4-H livestock barn, new this year, was filled with chickens, rabbits, sheep and other animals.

The fair continues today at 9 a.m. with Seniors Day.